Madden 18 Tips: How to Run the Read Option

Madden 18 has been out for a weeks now and everyone should have been able to get their feet wet in the game. Sports Gamers Online is back again with another tips and tricks video. This time, we focus on hpw to run the read option in Madden 18. You can catch the video above or via YouTube. Simply continue reading below for a full video breakdown.

Madden 18 Tips: Running the Read Option

Have you found yourself not being able to properly get the timing of the read option down? Giving when you shouldn’t or keeping it and running straight into a defender? Well, I’m here to help you out with that and go over why, if you have a fast quarterback, the read option should automatically be in your arsenal. Alright, let’s get it.

BASICS OF A READ OPTION

What makes the read option such a dangerous tool is its ability to systematically erase a defender from the outcome of the play. Imagine you’re on defense and your opponent activates his trap card that removes one of your guys from the field. You would find defending the run just got a lot harder. I won’t even get into the triple options and inverted veers just yet, but just you wait.

Besides just having superior talents, stopping the run in its simplest form is a numbers game. If I consistently have more blockers than you have defenders at a certain spot, I’m going to have a good day running the football. Now to make sure the defense is guaranteed to always be 1-man short, the Quarterback will always do the opposite of whatever the guy your reading does. So, if he stays home and waits for the quarterback, you give to the back. If he crashes down on the running back, you take off with your quarterback.

HOW TO RUN EFFECTIVELY

Now, how do you always make sure you make the right read? Easy; to execute a read option correctly, you obviously want to be looking at the defender with the icon above his head and when you snap the ball, keep your hand off the X or A button. Once you see the defender start to crash on the back, press the button to give to the back. If he crashes, you don’t have to press the button at all and just take off out the back with the quarterback. Doing it this way has always removed the confusing of the give/keep for me and I hope it does so for you.

Alright Sports Gamers, hope this video helped you guys out. For those who have yet to run the read option, I hope I helped you see the light. Stay tuned for more Madden 18 content here at Sports Gamers Online. Check back here daily so you don’t miss anything we put out.

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I have been playing football games since 99’. All starting with the NFL Game Day demo and NFL Blitz on PlayStation, then I moved on to Madden for the next 5 years, where I really didn't know what I was going yet. I flirted with NFL 2K for a year, but have played Madden and NCAA (up until its demise last year) ever since steadily improving my game each year and developing a passion for the X’s and O’s part of football.